Daily Devotional

May 26

Twilight: The Spirit as Down Payment

by the Rev. Andrew Kuyvenhoven

Monthly Theme:

These readings focus on the Holy Spirit. In the Old Covenant (or Testament), the Spirit "anoints" one person here and one there to perform a special work for God. In the New Covenant, the Spirit is "poured out" like rain on the whole church of Christ.

Bible Reading:

Ephesians 1: 13–14

Bible Text:

You were marked ... with ... the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (Eph. 1:13–14).

Devotional:

As any real estate agent knows, a sale isn't good until the buyer has made a down payment. By paying a deposit, the buyer secures the goods and pledges that the rest of the money is coming.

The Holy Spirit is a down payment, "a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance." That means that the Spirit's coming is the beginning of all the goods God has promised to give us.

Today God gives us a new heart with new hope. But God has also promised us a new body on a new earth. God has promised his everlasting peace and presence. Sorrow and sighing will flee away. Pain and frustration will end. Justice and love will dwell in the land.

We haven't received most of these blessings yet. We believe God's promises, but most of them are not yet fulfilled. We don't yet see what we believe; life is still difficult. And we sit here with a handful of promissory notes: the promised inheritance of God.

However, the Lord God has given a down payment: the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the beginning of everything new and different—the first golden treasure from the other side, from God. The Spirit is ours already in the present world, bringing us thoughts and values and attitudes from the next world. The Spirit is with us as the beginning and guarantee of the rest of our inheritance.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published in 1994. This edition is copyright by Faith Alive Christian Resources, from whom may be ordered Daylight, the predecessor of Twilight.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this edition of Twilight are from the New International Version